undergraduate research at the research universities

Snapshots of undergraduate research programs atresearch universities offer models and ideas asbenchmark programs.

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING, no. 93, Spring 2003 © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 39

3

Undergraduate Research at theResearch Universities

Carolyn Ash Merkel

American research universities offer students a diverse, rich, and dynamicenvironment that promotes academic rigor and intellectual and personalgrowth. They provide students the unique opportunities to learn in theresearch environment and to explore the intellectual universe with facultywho are engaged in the creation of knowledge at the frontiers of their dis-ciplines. Students can sample widely from abundant academic offerings andbecome intellectually nimble and well prepared to continue their educationor launch their careers.

However, the universities in general have been criticized loudly fortheir emphasis on research over teaching and for not committing enough of their vast resources to the education of undergraduates. Institutions havebeen challenged to involve students in the research enterprise and to offermore of them hands-on experiences to enhance their learning.

At least a few undergraduates have always been involved in research;they have been the students who distinguish themselves to their professors.And in some universities, it is still the top students who get to do research.The quiet students, or those who have not achieved high grade-point aver-ages, are not invited to participate in research. That situation began tochange with the creation of successful undergraduate research programs atsome universities and with the founding of organizations that support theenterprise.

Over time, some universities have increased institutional emphasis onlearning by doing. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) devel-oped its Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program in 1969 to allowany student to start doing research. Ten years later, the California Institute

40 VALUING AND SUPPORTING UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

of Technology (Caltech) initiated its Summer Undergraduate ResearchFellowships program to offer summer research opportunities to students.The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) was founded in 1978. Bythe mid-1980s, the National Science Foundation (NSF) created its ResearchExperiences for Undergraduates program. The National Conferences onUndergraduate Research held its first event in 1987.

In 1987, the Carnegie Foundation published College: The Undergrad-uate Experience in America, which concluded that undergraduates at largeresearch universities were less satisfied with their college experiences thanpeers at other kinds of institutions (Grassmuck, 1990). In ScholarshipReconsidered (1990), Boyer challenged universities to “break out of the tiredold teaching versus research debate and define in more creative ways whatit means to be a scholar” (p. xii). He went on to propose that universitiesstrengthen research, integration, application, and teaching, starting at thehighest levels of university administration (p. xii). State legislatures took upthe call and pressured their public universities to reform undergraduateeducation (“Transforming the State Role in Undergraduate Education,”1986, p. 13).

All these efforts taken together began the difficult and slow process ofchanging the landscape of undergraduate education. However, the 1998report of the Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in theResearch University, Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint forAmerica’s Research Universities, indicted the universities for their lack ofprogress in the realm of reinvigorating undergraduate education. Thatreport further stimulated activity in the research universities.

In this chapter, I describe the undergraduate research culture and drawa picture of undergraduate research at four research universities, includingCaltech, MIT, Rutgers, and the University of Washington, all of whichexemplify strong undergraduate research cultures. The information wasgathered in a study done for the Association of American Universities in2000. The purpose of the project was to characterize undergraduateresearch at these institutions to identify issues, questions, opportunities,and barriers affecting undergraduate research in the sciences and engineer-ing and in the arts and humanities. I interviewed close to two hundredadministrators, faculty members, and students, and the snapshots of under-graduate research have been developed from these conversations.

Nature of Undergraduate Research at the ResearchUniversities

Undergraduate research in the research universities has particular features. Itis first and foremost an educational opportunity for the student. The focus ofundergraduate research is on the academic growth of the students rather thanon the development of the faculty member, although many junior facultymembers launch their research programs with the help of undergraduates.

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AT THE RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES 41

These faculty are often eager to work with students because their own under-graduate research experiences set them on their professional courses. Studentsin the research universities work with mentors at the forefront of their fields.They often have access to state-of-the-art research equipment, materials, andsupplies and other resources the institution can offer.

Undergraduate research helps to address the issue raised by the mediaand the public that research universities emphasize research over teachingto the detriment of the students. Most academics view research and teach-ing as a continuum, with each activity influencing and informing the other,rather than as two separate or opposite activities. Although the facultyreward system is driven by research productivity and (secondarily) by teach-ing, faculty generally view undergraduate research as part of their teachingresponsibilities. For most students, hands-on experiences provide the bestlearning tools. The essence of undergraduate research is the supportive,encouraging, intellectual partnership between students and otherresearchers and through which students apply knowledge gained in theclassroom to new questions and problems.

Undergraduate research promotes students’ inclusion in the commu-nity of scholars described by Boyer in Scholarship Reconsidered (1990). Asthey become collaborators with their mentors or colleagues within aresearch group, students become junior partners in the research enterprise.Faculty mentors provide overall guidance and coaching. They help stu-dents sink their roots in the culture of the discipline. Mentors provideadvice on graduate school or career development. They also write the all-important letters of recommendation for graduate or professional schoolor for jobs in industry. Often the relationships formed through under-graduate research last many years, and mentors and protégés continue theirinteraction as the student moves through his or her education and into acareer. For most students, engaging in undergraduate research is an intro-duction to research. However, many students make significant contribu-tions to the mentor’s ongoing work, often becoming coauthors of articlesin the refereed literature.

The progress from one level of education to the next becomes moreseamless and efficient through undergraduate research. Undergraduates par-ticipate with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the stimulationand challenges of doing research. Students learn firsthand what it is like tobe a graduate student before they make the commitment to years of addi-tional study and research. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellowsdevelop mentoring skills they will need as they move into their own careers.Undergraduate research provides a junction in the educational continuum.

Students often choose to attend research universities because of theopportunities to learn in an environment heavily influenced by the ongoingcreation of new knowledge and for the options to get involved in research.Universities may include an undergraduate fellowship as part of the recruit-ment package. Some students strive to find research opportunities in which


they can be involved. Others, perhaps most, must be invited into theresearch experience. They must be encouraged and shown that they, too,can learn the skills, techniques, and methods; do research; gain the benefitsof original exploration; and participate in the scholarly community.

Culture

Many universities have developed a culture of undergraduate research. Insome institutions, this environment has evolved because of specific charac-teristics of the university. The focus on the undergraduate experience pro-motes the concept of students working with faculty members. Other schoolshave taken deliberate steps to create a supportive climate and to encourageundergraduate research for many (or most) students. For the purposes of this discussion, it will be useful to consider the elements of a culture ofundergraduate research within an institution.

In an institution with a pervasive undergraduate research culture, themajor campus constituencies—administration, faculty, and students—par-ticipate in and are integral to the enterprise. The administration is proactivein enhancing undergraduate education in general and encouraging under-graduate research in particular. The administration has included undergrad-uate research in the central mission or strategic plan and has articulated anoverarching vision for the role of undergraduate research in the academicexperience of its students. It has allocated human and financial resources tothe enterprise. The benefits accruing to students, faculty, and the institu-tion are well known and widely publicized. The administration has helpedto form an institutional expectation of mentoring undergraduate studentsas part of the teaching mission of the university.

When faculty discuss undergraduate research, they display evidence ofinstitutional conversation about the enterprise. They talk about the impor-tance and value of undergraduate research and scholarly or creative activi-ties in the larger context of the university curriculum, pedagogy, and broadeducational opportunities. Faculty are committed to the development ofundergraduates and think creatively about how to bring students into thescholarly community. Many faculty mentor students, either in one-to-oneor one-to-many relationships. Faculty use a common language to talk abouthow they involve students in research, and there is a general understandingof what the term “undergraduate research” means within the institution asa whole and in the colleges and departments.

Students at these universities know that the institution encourages theirparticipation in research and scholarly activities, and they are well aware ofavailable opportunities to get involved. They know what programs are inplace, and they know how to get involved. Students take the initiative toeducate themselves and their peers about research. They may form “under-graduate research clubs”—a community of undergraduate scholars—andmay invite faculty or visitors to give seminars, develop an undergraduate


research journal (either on-line or hard copy) to showcase their work, orcreate Web sites to advertise opportunities to peers and recruit faculty men-tors. These groups also give students a forum to exchange knowledge andideas flowing from their own research projects.

A culture of undergraduate research strengthens universities, and insti-tutions reap rewards as they invest in their students. The competition forexcellent students is intense, and institutions aim to recruit the best stu-dents possible. As well-informed consumers of education, students seek,and expect, outstanding opportunities. Curious, motivated students com-plement excellent faculty. Students who take advantage of these opportu-nities are more satisfied with their undergraduate experiences and are moreapt to become happy alumni who want to “give back” to their universitythrough financial gifts or personal involvement. The large public universi-ties are under pressure from the media, state legislatures, and other agen-cies to improve the undergraduate experience. Undergraduate researchprograms address many of these criticisms and provide good examples ofsuccessful educational programs.

Differences Between Private and Public Institutions

Significant differences exist among the 135 research universities in theUnited States, and each institution has a unique environment even as alluniversities share common characteristics. Public institutions face signifi-cant challenges and issues in developing a culture of undergraduate researchthat the smaller private universities do not have. The public institutions arelarge, complex organizations subdivided into colleges and further intodepartments and programs, and undergraduate research may flourish insome areas but not in others. The administration may not always knowwhat programs exist in the departments. These institutions must respondto and are accountable to state legislatures and other public agencies,another layer of oversight with tremendous influence on university policies.

Extremely diverse undergraduate student bodies with widely varyingdegrees of ability, preparation, and interest inhabit the public institutions.Many students hold part-time or even full-time jobs, and academic pursuitsbecome a sideline occupation. Many students choose research universitiesbecause they want to learn in the environment where new knowledge is cre-ated and forefront work is carried out, and others have not considered theresearch environment at all. The assertive students put themselves forwardto meet potential mentors and express their desire to get involved inresearch. The quiet students can get through these schools knowing fewadministrators and fewer faculty and without participating in research.Student-faculty partnerships also improve student retention (Nagda andothers, 1998).

Faculty have teaching responsibility for large classes and get to knowonly the students who stand out. They may invite those students who have


excellent academic records or who they identify as bright and curious tojoin their research endeavors. The quiet students can blend into the massesand be overlooked, although they may possess skills and abilities equal toother students.

An administration faces challenges as it seeks to institutionalize under-graduate research. Providing one-to-one mentoring of students is impossi-ble, so the university has to discover one-to-many options to give studentshands-on experiences. The public universities possess resources that cansupport and expand undergraduate research. For example, faculty in pro-fessional schools can increase the mentor pool for undergraduates seekingresearch opportunities. Available resources have to be identified and per-haps reallocated. That makes everyone nervous!

The private institutions have different challenges, advantages, andresources. They are smaller, so the school can be more selective in admit-ting students. The ratio of students to faculty is lower. Members of theadministration and faculty can get to know students individually. The pri-vate schools can offer many, perhaps most, students one-to-one mentoringopportunities. They are generally not bound by governmental policies,which dictate certain activities in the public universities. They may beadministratively leaner than the public universities and, therefore, morenimble as they set about developing an undergraduate research culture. Thecompetition for excellent students can be a primary driver in revitalizingundergraduate education. Students are increasingly educated consumers asthey apply to universities, and many seek institutions that offer a strong cur-riculum and broad opportunities.

Undergraduate Research at Four Universities

This section provides more depth on programs at Rutgers, the University ofWashington, MIT, and Caltech.

Rutgers University. Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, hasbeen remarkably successful in cultivating a culture of undergraduateresearch. The main campus at New Brunswick has an undergraduate stu-dent body of twenty-eight thousand students, and about seven thousandgraduate students matriculated into ten colleges. Since 1970, under strongleadership by the administration, Rutgers has grown from a well-regardedundergraduate institution into a research university.

About 1990, the university’s new president, Francis G. Lawrence,developed initiatives—including undergraduate research—to enhance theacademic life of its students. The administration included these initiativesin the university’s strategic plan, and Rutgers has taken bold steps todevelop a culture that values undergraduate education and promotes under-graduate research. The results of the efforts may be seen in many adminis-trative actions.


The president created the office of the Vice President for UndergraduateEducation, and the vice president, Susan G. Forman, has been innovative inenhancing the curriculum, including the development of an undergraduateresearch program. In identifying ongoing undergraduate research opportu-nities and reviewing the barriers to student involvement, she recognized thatstudents were ignorant of the available opportunities. They often sawresearch and teaching as opposites; they did not see themselves as membersof the community of scholars, able to participate in the creation of newknowledge. She took a simple but important step in distributing to everysophomore a brochure describing undergraduate research and how to par-ticipate. She recruited academic advisors to encourage students to start doingresearch. She built upon activities already in place. For example, to show-case ongoing undergraduate research activities that have been housed in thevarious colleges, she created “research weeks” each spring to publicize oversixty undergraduate research events in all departments. Students and facultylike the smaller departmental or college programs, but the small events arepublicized as part of a larger activity. It attracts attention university-wide andbeyond the campus to the community.

Forman created the University-wide Fellows Program as a centerpieceof the effort to emphasize undergraduate research. Through the program,faculty members apply for funding to support the student. The funds maybe used for a student stipend, or the mentor might take the student to a con-ference or use the money to purchase special materials the student willrequire in the research. Articles about the fellows and mentors appear incampus publications to disseminate information about the program andbring focus to the undergraduate research enterprise.

Undergraduate research is prominently featured on the Rutgers Website within one click of the front page. Directly linked to the front page isthe following description: “Curiosity about the world and a commitment tosolving problems—these are the passions that drive a research univer-sity. At Rutgers, a member of the prestigious Association of AmericanUniversities, both graduate and undergraduate students work side-by-sidewith renowned professors, studying such intriguing topics as the nature ofdark matter in the universe, bioinformatics, and the genetic basis for dis-eases” (http://www.rutgers.edu/research.shtml).

The university created a Teaching Excellence Center with institutionalfunds to provide training for faculty in new instructional technology, helpthem overcome the “sage-on-the-stage” approach to lecturing, and assist themin developing a variety of active learning methods for use in their classrooms,including inquiry-based courses. An example of the move to inquiry-basedcourses may be seen in the genetics course that serves 1,000 students.Beginning in fall 2000, all students are assigned a gene to investigate. Withfunds from an NSF Institution-wide Reform Grant, new science courses fornonscience majors were created to provide inquiry-based learning. As one


administrator said about these changes, “It will be different from lectures. It brings Rutgers closer to the new curriculum that will be commonplace inten years.”

Faculty and administrators at Rutgers accept a broad definition of theterm undergraduate research. Although aspects of the definition vary fromdiscipline to discipline, faculty largely agree that students who participatesubstantively in the work of the faculty member are doing undergrad-uate research. The university has expressed its commitment to expandingopportunities, and raising funds to support it will be one of the requests inan upcoming capital campaign.

Rutgers has been successful in the steps it has taken so far to enhanceundergraduate research opportunities for its students. The Commission onHigher Education of the Middle States Association of Schools and Collegesreaccredited Rutgers in 1998. The self-study featured undergraduate edu-cation, including research and creative activity, as one of four topic areas.The accreditation report stated, “Two aspects of undergraduate educationare particularly deserving of commendation: (1) the emphasis on providingundergraduate student research opportunities and (2) in a more generalway, the attentiveness of faculty and administrators to developing studentleadership skills”(Report of the Evaluation Team, 1998, p. 10).

Important inroads have been made, but as one dean said, “The institu-tion has just scratched the surface.”

University of Washington. Throughout the 1990s, the Seattle cam-pus of the University of Washington, with more than twenty-five thousandundergraduate students and ten thousand graduate students, took impor-tant steps to revitalize undergraduate education and create a dynamic envi-ronment for its students. These steps exhibit the administration’s leadershipin bringing significant change to the campus.

The administration created the Office of Undergraduate Education in1992 to coordinate undergraduate programs campuswide. Through theefforts of this office and other departments, the university began to offerstudents expanded opportunities and experiences, among them undergrad-uate research, with an emphasis on learning.

About the same time, the Carlson Office (later renamed the CarlsonCenter) was created with funds from a generous donation to the university.The original mission of the center was, among other things, to promote,organize, and support opportunities for the university’s undergraduates tobecome actively engaged in experiential learning through community ser-vice work (http://www.washington.edu/students/carlson/mission.html).Three years later, the scope of these activities was broadened to includeundergraduate research.

In 1995 the president, Richard L. McCormick, reviewed the university’sprograms to identify new initiatives. Undergraduate research emerged aspolitically and educationally important, and in a public address, he declaredundergraduate research as one of the university’s high priorities. Although

the mandate was unfunded, it stimulated institutional conversation aboutways to shift the emphasis from teaching to learning and to developresearch opportunities for students. Several programs were developed as aresult of the speech.

In autumn 1995, the Undergraduate Research Program (URP) wasestablished to support students seeking opportunities to get involved inresearch and to assist faculty in all fields who wished to include under-graduates in their work. URP, with a part-time director and small staff,maintains a Web site that includes an extensive list of research opportuni-ties at the university and beyond, information for faculty on incorporatingundergraduates into their work, advice for students on getting started inresearch, and recognition of students’ research accomplishments. URP alsoorganizes the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium and offers assis-tance to students preparing to present their work at the symposium or inother professional settings.

The Undergraduate Research Symposium gives students the chance toshowcase their research projects that build on and enrich faculty workacross the disciplines. Students, faculty, and the community have the oppor-tunity to discuss cutting-edge research topics and to examine the connec-tion between research and education. It promotes the undergraduateresearch enterprise by providing information and examples for students notyet involved in research.

Also in 1995, Bill and Melinda Gates established the Mary GatesEndowment for Students in memory of Bill’s mother, the university’slongest-serving regent. It is significant that following deep discussionsinvolving faculty and administrators on the needs of the university, the pro-posal to the Gates family requested funds to foster the development of inde-pendent learners and community leaders. In 1999, the Bill and MelindaGates Foundation added to the endowment, and the annual proceeds arededicated exclusively to students.

The Gates endowment funds the Mary Gates Scholars program, whichsupports students each year to do undergraduate research with faculty men-tors. Students receive a generous stipend each quarter to allow them to doresearch without having to hold outside jobs. Students apply for the MaryGates Scholarships by writing essays about what they expect to learn fromthe research experience. The deans and a faculty committee evaluate theessays and decide the awards.

The university started the Summer Undergraduate Research Program(SURP) to enhance the undergraduate experience and to challenge thebright students the university recruited from high school on space grantscholarships. SURP allowed these students to do research the summerbefore they matriculated into the university. Within four years, programparticipation expanded beyond the space grant program and more thantripled with additional funding from the provost and the Mary GatesEndowment.


The Tools for Transformation program provided incentive for depart-ments to apply for one-time funding of $50,000 to $100,000 to respond tonew challenges and to remove impediments to change (http://www.washington.edu/change/proposals). Some of the funded proposals have beenstudent-focused, including research, curriculum transformation, and expan-sion of service-learning experiences.

The students are beginning to reflect the undergraduate research cul-ture. A group has formed the Undergraduate Research Society (URS) toadvertise research positions among students and to provide advice on apply-ing for a research position. The URS meetings provide a forum for studentsto present their research, discuss current issues in research, and help eachother refine their presentations and publications. Within a year of its for-mation, URS had over 50 members and was one of the fastest growing stu-dent organizations on campus.

In October 1998, the University of Washington reported to the state’sHigher Education Coordinating Board on state-mandated accountability tar-gets that more than 22 percent of its undergraduates report a research expe-rience with a faculty member. According to Dean of UndergraduateEducation Frederick L. Campbell, the university would like to set a goal forevery student to have some kind of experiential learning. “It should be ahallmark of the place,” he said.

Success has engendered success at the institution, and it is changing itsculture to better emphasize undergraduate education in general and under-graduate research and experiential learning in particular. Faculty andadministrators are feeling pressure from students who now demand moreof these opportunities. In response, the institution has raised funds specif-ically restricted to the enhancement of undergraduate education. It has alsoundertaken such simple, low-cost steps as creating a Web site to advertisefaculty projects to students. Because of increased student interest, the com-petition for available positions is greater, and as a result, the quality of theexperiences is improving. A faculty member commented, “The students areraising the bar for each other. They are seeing what is possible, and they are going for more. Faculty expectations are higher. We are all learningwhat can be done, and it is impressive.”

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Undergraduate research per-meates the MIT environment. The institute’s select undergraduate studentbody numbers close to forty-four hundred, with over fifty-five hundredgraduate students and more than nine hundred faculty. Students are encour-aged to get involved in research from the very start.

In 1969, stimulated by a speech by Edwin Land, head of Polaroid, DeanMargaret MacVicar, with the support and encouragement of President PaulGray, founded the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)to invite and encourage students to become part of the research mission of theinstitute. UROP at MIT, the first undergraduate research program in the coun-try, has become the model for similar programs at many other universities.


UROP is a clearinghouse for student-faculty collaborations in all theresearch efforts represented at MIT. Any student can do research throughUROP, and they often begin to seek research experiences in the first termof their freshman year. Although students usually join a faculty member’sproject, they also may design their own projects and recruit faculty to advisethem. They work during academic terms and summer. Students may receivepay or academic credit. Occasionally students volunteering to work in aresearch group receive neither pay nor credit. Students work on campus orat other MIT venues such as Lincoln Laboratory.

About 80 percent of MIT students do at least one UROP project beforethey graduate, sometimes starting out by doing routine tasks in support ofthe work of faculty and graduate students. Close to 50 percent of all stu-dents do more than one UROP project. When they continue doing research,students often take on increasingly sophisticated and challenging projects.About 20 percent become authors or coauthors of articles in the refereedliterature, a measure of the level of research they undertake and of their con-tributions to the body of knowledge.

Faculty are extremely enthusiastic about and proud of UROP, and morethan 45 percent of them participate in the program each year. They describeMIT’s focus on students and the abundant undergraduate research oppor-tunities as the essence of the institute. Increasingly, junior faculty attributetheir own undergraduate research experiences with setting them on theircareer paths through graduate school and into academe, and they enthusi-astically recruit students to work with them. Sometimes they launch theirresearch programs with undergraduates before they have graduate studentswith whom to work. However, some assistant professors said that their sen-ior colleagues counseled them to avoid working with undergraduates at thispoint in their careers.

The UROP staff, 2.5 FTEs, provides infrastructure for the programunder the direction of the dean for undergraduate research, who sets UROPpolicy. The staff advertises the program and holds information sessions forprospective participants. They manage the application process, which con-sists of a research proposal and a budget. They also communicate programguidelines and goals to the students and faculty, review student proposals,recommend hourly wage levels, and award funding when appropriate. Thestaff evaluate the program as well as student and faculty experiencesthrough required feedback from mentors and students. Because of the smallnumber of staff, UROP has not yet sponsored a symposium or poster ses-sion; however, some departments coordinate such events.

UROP developed a research mentor program in 1993 to take advantageof the “independent activities period” held in January. The program linksundergraduates who have never done a UROP project with experiencedUROP students who serve as peer mentors. The purpose of the program isto help prepare students to do research and to give upper-class studentsmentoring experience.


Undergraduate research is ubiquitous at MIT. It pervades the culture,promotes educational growth for its students, and provides the rich oppor-tunities students seek when they choose a university. A new generation offaculty who were undergraduate researchers themselves is beginning todeepen the culture even further. The administration cites the importanceand value of UROP to the institute and its contribution to MIT’s world lead-ership in research and education.

California Institute of Technology. Caltech is a small private researchinstitute with a select undergraduate student body of about 900; graduatestudents number 1,100 and faculty, close to 350. The institute comprises sixacademic divisions, and it manages the National Aeronautics SpaceAdministration’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as a nonacademic division.Undergraduate research is deeply imbedded in the academic culture.

Students are steeped in the research environment, and there are severalmechanisms by which they can do research. They may do research for aca-demic credit, or faculty may hire them to work in their laboratories. Thestudents themselves publish the Undergraduate Research OpportunitiesHandbook to allow faculty, research fellows, and postdoctoral and graduatestudents to advertise projects on which undergraduates might work.Opportunities for off-campus research are readily available on the Web sitesof the Student-Faculty Programs Office and the Career Development Center.Close to 60 percent of Caltech students report having done research by thetime they graduate.

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) providesopportunities for more than one-third of the eligible (rising sophomores,juniors, and seniors) Caltech students to do research under the mentor-ship of Caltech faculty, JPL technical staff, or with faculty at other univer-sities in the United States and abroad. In addition, more than a hundredstudents from colleges and universities worldwide participate in SURF atCaltech each year.

Founded in 1979 by then-professor of chemical engineering Fred Shair,SURF is a microcosm of the grant-seeking process. Students collaboratewith potential mentors to write research proposals, which are reviewed bya faculty committee that recommends awards. Students carry out the workduring a ten-week summer period. Any student who wants to do researchcan find an opportunity in a variety of fields. The benchmark for a SURFproject is the potential for publication, and about 20 percent of SURF stu-dents coauthor articles in the refereed literature, present at conferences, orcontribute to significant reports. As with any fellowship, students receive astipend; the 2002 stipend was $5,000.

Because science not reported is essentially science not done, SURFplaces strong emphasis on communication. Students are required to submittechnical papers at the conclusion of the program. They also give oral pre-sentations at SURF seminar day, a symposium modeled on a professional


technical meeting. Two donors endowed prizes for the best technical papersand oral presentations to stimulate students to develop excellent technicalcommunication skills. A group of enterprising students developed theCaltech Undergraduate Research Journal to showcase undergraduate researchin an interesting, readable publication intelligible to any undergraduate. Thejournal appears on-line and in print.

The SURF program sponsors a wealth of enrichment activitiesthroughout the summer to enhance the research experience. These activ-ities include weekly research seminars given by faculty and presented ina manner accessible to students at all levels in all disciplines. Weekly pro-fessional development workshops help students consider their short-termcareer decisions in the context of long-term life and career goals. Eachweek during the summer, small groups of students have supper with twoor three faculty at local restaurants to promote informal interaction andconversation.

The SURF program raises close to $1 million annually to support stu-dent stipends from multiple sources, including endowment, annual giftsfrom individuals, corporations, and private foundations. These funds areused to match faculty contributions to their students’ stipends.

Nearly 60 percent of Caltech science and engineering faculty mentorSURF students each summer. Faculty members also volunteer to reviewproposals, read final reports, and evaluate oral presentations. SURF dependson the participation of the campus community, and faculty’s willingness tosupport the program in this way is a strong testimony to the value theyplace on the program.

SURF is the primary program in an array of undergraduate researchprograms administered by the Student-Faculty Programs Office staffed bythree FTEs. Other programs include Minority Undergraduate ResearchFellowships for non-Caltech underrepresented students; Axline SURF for aselect group of incoming freshmen; and Beckman Scholars for top biologyand chemistry students. Students admitted to the auxiliary programs fullyparticipate in SURF.

The Western Association of Schools and Colleges reaccredited Caltechin 1998. The self-study addressed four specific areas, one of them under-graduate research. In their final report to the institute, the visiting teamstated, “By all indications the SURF program has been tremendously suc-cessful” (1998, p. 73).

Undergraduate research is pervasive at Caltech, and, as President DavidBaltimore commented, SURF is “one of the jewels in Caltech’s crown.” Moststudents choose Caltech because of the opportunities to do research, andfaculty expect to involve them in their projects. Students often cite theirSURF experiences as among the best of their undergraduate careers. Theinstitute benefits as the students and faculty reap advantages in a culturestrongly supportive and encouraging of undergraduate research.


Summary

Research is the coin of the realm at many research universities, and theseinstitutions enhance undergraduate education by including students asintellectual partners in the research enterprise. Undergraduate research inthese schools is above all an educational opportunity for students, althoughsometimes students make significant contributions, become coauthors ofarticles in the refereed literature, or help junior faculty to launch theirresearch programs.

Undergraduate research makes the transition from one level of educa-tion to the next more efficient and seamless, finding out what it is like to bea graduate student. Another benefit is that graduate students and postdoc-toral candidates develop mentoring skills they will need as they move intotheir careers.

Students become members of the community of researchers and schol-ars as they collaborate with faculty mentors and other researchers. Studentssink their roots in the culture of their fields, including the ethics of the dis-cipline. The relationships formed between mentors and protégés often con-tinue as students progress through graduate school or begin their careers.

The research universities have been criticized by the public and themedia for emphasizing research over teaching, and undergraduate researchcan be one of the antidotes to that allegation. The tutorial interactionbetween mentor and student around a problem of mutual interest is an idealbridge on the teaching-research continuum. Most students learn bestthrough hands-on exploration of new problems as they apply knowledgegained in the classroom to real-world questions.

Several universities have developed a culture of undergraduate researchthat pervades the institution and includes the major campus constituenciesof faculty, students, and administration. In these institutions, the adminis-tration has articulated a vision of undergraduate research as an importantcomponent of undergraduate education and has taken steps to bring changeto the campus. In discussions about undergraduate research, faculty exhibitevidence of institutional conversation about the issues and have a commonunderstanding of what constitutes undergraduate research. Students areaware of research opportunities available to them. The culture of under-graduate research influences education throughout the institution.

The four institutions described in this chapter have developed strongundergraduate research cultures. Rutgers and the University of Washington,as large public institutions, have addressed the issues that arise from theirsize and complexity, including vastly diverse student bodies with widelyvarying needs. These two institutions have brought about significant changeand positioned themselves to achieve the goal of including increasinglyhigher percentages of their undergraduates in research.

Caltech and MIT have cultivated the undergraduate research culture overa long period. These institutions have much smaller, highly select student


bodies. The low student-faculty ratio allows any student to participate inresearch, and most students have a research experience by the time they grad-uate. Most faculty mentor undergraduates. The culture is so deeply imbed-ded that there is little need for institutional conversation because all membersof the community have a common knowledge of the opportunities and ben-efits for students, faculty, and the institution as a whole.

These four universities have developed cultures of undergraduateresearch by dint of creativity and innovation. Undergraduate researchopportunities are continuously evolving through diligent and persistenteffort supported by an established infrastructure. Each institution can serveas a model of how undergraduate research can become an integral part ofundergraduate education.

The Association of American Universities supported a pilot study ofundergraduate research at six research universities undertaken during 2000.I thank Nils Hasselmo and the members of the K–16 Task Force for theirsupport and encouragement.

I also thank the two hundred administrators, faculty, and studentswhom I interviewed at the research universities for giving their time to thisproject and for sharing their experiences and wisdom.

References

Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University, S. S. Kenny(chair). Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s ResearchUniversities. State University of New York–Stony Brook, 1998.

Boyer, E. College: The Undergraduate Experience in America. New York: Harper & Row,1987.

Boyer, E. Scholarship Reconsidered. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1990.Grassmuck, K. “Moving Toward the 21st Century: Some Research Universities

Contemplate Sweeping Changes Ranging from Management and Tenure to TeachingMethods.” Chronicle of Higher Education, 37, A1, A29–31, Sept. 12, 1990.

Nagda, B. A., and others. “Undergraduate Student-Faculty Research Partnerships AffectStudent Retention.” Review of Higher Education, 1998, 22(1), 55–72.

Report of the Evaluation Team to the Faculty, Administration, Trustees, and Studentsof Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Accreditation Review Commission onHigher Education Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Philadelphia:Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, March 29-April 1, 1998.

“Transforming the State Role in Undergraduate Education.” Chronicle of HigherEducation, 1986, 32(22), 13–18.

Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission for SeniorColleges and Universities. Visiting Committee Report to the California Institute ofTechnology, Oct. 12–15, 1998.

CAROLYN ASH MERKEL directs the Student-Faculty Programs at the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology. Each year about 350 students participate in the insti-tute’s SURF program. Merkel and Shenda Baker coauthored the Council on Undergraduate Research’s How to Mentor Undergraduate Researchers(2002).


undergraduate research at the research universities

Documents